A Montana state judge blocked a 2021 state law that would have banned transgender people from changing the gender listed on their birth certificates unless they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, Axios reported.
District Court Judge Michael Moses ordered the Montana Department of Health and Human Services to reinstate a 2017 rule that said that a person could modify their birth certificate by presenting an affidavit or a form indicating that a person had transitioned—no surgery required.
Moses criticized attorneys for the state for circumventing his April order that temporarily blocked a 2021 Montana law that made it harder to change birth certificates, NBC News noted.
Trans+-rights advocates say that only Tennessee, Oklahoma and West Virginia have sweeping prohibitions against birth certificate changes similar to what Montana has pursued. Bans in Idaho and Ohio were struck down in 2020.